Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for A Side Dish of Death (Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries) by T. C. LoTempio. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
A Side Dish of Death (Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries) by T. C. LoTempio
A Side Dish of Death (Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – Connecticut
Publisher : Beyond the Page Publishing (February 25, 2025)
Print length : 257 pages
When a celebrity chef is murdered, Shell McMillan has to cook up a plan to trap the killer of a man for all seasonings . . .
With adopt-a-cat month in full swing in Fox Hollow, pet shop owner Shell McMillan decides that hosting a night of murder mystery dinner theater will be a fun way to raise funds for the cause. But she didn’t realize that the celebrity chef she’d hired for the event would turn out to be a tyrannical snob, or that her scoundrel of an ex-fiancé would turn up with his own shady agenda. Still, the show must go on, and as the lighthearted plot on-stage unfolds, the scene off-stage turns decidedly darker when the chef is found murdered.
Rather than question an entire roomful of possible suspects, Shell determines that looking into the victim’s past will lead her to the culprit more quickly. What she finds is that the chef had left behind a disreputable past and a trail of disgruntled people, including a long string of women he’d wronged and a host of others who may have been out for revenge. But as Shell closes in on the killer, the killer is closing in on her. And she’s discovering that while too many cooks can spoil the broth, being a murderer’s next target can really ruin your appetite . . .
Author Guest Post
How I write
TC LoTempio
I’ve been writing my whole life, but more consistently the past eleven years since the publication of the first Nick and Nora mystery. When I worked I wrote primarily on the weekends, and now that I’m retired it’s evolved into a five day, five hours a day job! (More if I’m on a deadline). But no matter what I’m working on, Nick and Nora, Pet Shop, Cozy Bookstore or something else I always start with the feeling that : I’ve got nothing.
It’s true. That’s my starting place nearly every morning. I believe, in fact, it’s where every writer who writes with any regularity begins their day of work. Those minutes after I’ve done my obligatory Facebook/Publicity/Google research—before any sort of cohesive idea enters my mind—require discipline, which at times I confess I lack.
Ideas come and go in various ways. Unless I write them down immediately, though, I often sit staring at a blank page. That is every writer’s nightmare. How do you get over that? I find that taking a break and doing something else – food shopping, surfing the web, visiting a friend, even picking up the mail – can sometimes free the mind. I think of plot points at the oddest times – making breakfast or lunch, taking a walk, most often in the middle of the night. I’ve learned to keep a notebook and pen on my end table. (Of course, then is the next problem: reading my handwriting LOL)
Then there’s writing. In order to write, I have to forget about that outside world. I might be writing about it, but all writing comes entirely from my inner world. When I get caught up in a story, time stands still. I forget all about the bills I have to pay, or what time the UPS man arrives. All my attention is focused on the characters and the plot I am creating.
Usually I think my writing is blah. Then when I finally read it over I think Wow! I wrote this! I’m always surprised at the way it turns out. You’d think I’d know by now but it’s always the same.
To be a writer takes patience and supreme dedication. But when people tell you how much they enjoy your work, all the angst is worth it.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way!
About Toni Lotempio
While Toni Lotempio does not commit – or solve – murders in real life, she has no trouble doing it on paper. Her lifelong love of mysteries began early on when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew mystery at age 10 – The Secret in the Old Attic. She and her cat pen the Nick and Nora mystery series originally from Berkley Prime Crime and now with Beyond the Page Publishing. They also write the Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries and the Tiffany Austin Food Blogger Mysteries, also available from Beyond the Page. A new series, Cozy Bookshop Mysteries, debuts from Severn House in July. Catch up with them at ROCCO’s blog, www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com, or her website, www.tclotempio.net
Social Media Links
Webpage: http://www.tclotempio.net
Blog: http://www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toni.lotempio.5
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Smashwords
Enter the Giveaway
A Side Dish of Death TOUR PARTICIPANTS
February 25 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
February 26 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
February 27 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
February 28 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
March 1 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
March 2 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW
March 2 – Celticladys Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
March 3 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
March 3 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
March 4 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT
March 5 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
March 5 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
March 6 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
March 7 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
March 8 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
March 9 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
March 10 – Reading Is My SuperPower – SPOTLIGHT
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Want to Book a Tour?
Click Here
I really enjoyed your guest post.
Sounds like a cozy I will enjoy reading.
Adorable & fun cover.
Sounds like my type of mystery! I would enjoy seeing how Shell discovers the culprit!